Robert Lyle Knepper
born; July 8, 1959
Fremont, Ohio, U.S.
Early life
Born in Fremont, Ohio, Knepper was interested in acting from an early age due to his mother's involvement at a community theater. He was raised in Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo, by his mother and father, who was a veterinarian. Knepper spent many years of his youth working in the community theater and high school productions. After graduating from Maumee High School in 1977, he attended Northwestern University to study drama. During this time, Knepper also obtained professional roles in plays in Chicago. Nearing the completion of his degree, Knepper quit Northwestern and went to New York City, where he continued to work in theater. Although Knepper never intended to work in film and television projects, he began his television and film career in 1986 with The Paper Chase and That's Life!.
Career
Making his feature film debut in Blake Edwards' That's Life, Knepper's additional feature film credits include Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, D.O.A., Renegades, Young Guns II, Gas Food Lodging, Hostage, The Transporter 3, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Good Night and Good Luck.
Knepper has made numerous television guest appearances on series such as Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, La Femme Nikita, New York Undercover, Tour of Duty, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, ER, L.A. Law, Profiler, South Beach, Murder, She Wrote, CSI: Miami and The West Wing and had a recurring role as radio journalist Tommy Dolan on Carnivale. He starred in the 2007 film adaption of the Hitman game series, and was a main character on Prison Break until the series ended, where he plays "Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell", his biggest role yet.
It was revealed on 3rd June 2009, following the success and final episode of Prison Break, that Knepper would be joining the cast of NBC's Heroes, playing the season 4 villain "Samuel".
